RUMANIA: Compression

"Attention! Attention!" hawked Rumania's
radios. "Here is an important statement!" A pause followed. Then a dry
voice spoke: "We, Michael I, King of Rumania, to all those present and
those to come, good health!"

Many political changes had taken place in the country during the last
years, continued the voice, rendering the monarchy little more than an
obstruction in the path of progress. "Consequently," it concluded, "and
fully conscious of the importance of the action which we are about to
take . . . we abdicate the throne. . . . We give the Rumanian people
full freedom to elect its...